IRVINE, Calif. – September 12, 2013 — RealtyTrac® (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for comprehensive housing and real estate data, today released its Ohio Foreclosure Market Report™ for August 2013, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 9,542 Ohio properties in August, an increase of 19 percent from the previous month and up 4 percent from July 2012. The report also shows that Ohio’s overall foreclosure rate — where one in 537 housing units has a foreclosure filing — ranked third highest among all states for the month.

“As home prices continue to increase, we have noticed an increase in lenders taking action on delinquent mortgages,” said Michael Mahon, executive vice president and broker at HER Realtors, covering the Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton markets in Ohio. “We have lenders in the Ohio market who have stepped up their activity in notifying homeowners who are in default and commencing foreclosure actions, which has added to the amount of foreclosures we are seeing in certain Ohio metros.

“Due to lack of inventory during the summer months, there is a current demand amongst buyers who are ready, willing and able to purchase new inventory being introduced to the market,” added Mahon.

Foreclosure starts up 44 percent from previous month, down 27 percent annuallyThe foreclosure process was started for the first time on 2,998 Ohio properties in August, a 44 percent increase from the previous month but still down 27 percent from a year ago. The jump in Ohio foreclosure starts in August followed three consecutive monthly decreases in foreclosure starts, and the state’s August foreclosure starts were at the highest level since February.

Scheduled foreclosure auctions decreased 6 percent from the previous month but were still up 11 percent from a year ago.

REO activity up 29 percent from previous month, up 46 percent annuallyOhio bank repossessions (REO) spiked from the previous month to an eight-month high. Bank repossessions in Ohio increased 29 percent in August from the previous month and were up 46 percent from a year ago. Statewide there were 3,583 bank repossessions in August 2013.

Akron, Cleveland and Toledo enter top 10 metro foreclosure ratesThe national foreclosure rate dropped in August, but three Ohio cities — Akron, Cleveland and Toledo — cracked into the nation’s top 10 metro foreclosure rates for the month.

Toledo ranked 7th nationwide with a foreclosure rate of one in every 384 housing units with a foreclosure filing. The metro reported foreclosure filings on 784 properties in August, up 144 percent from July 2013 but still down 1 percent from August 2012.

Cleveland ranked 8th nationally, also with a foreclosure rate of one in every 384 housing units with a foreclosure filing. Cleveland reported 2,483 properties with foreclosure filings in August, up 29 percent from the previous month and up 2 percent from August 2012.

Akron ranked 10th nationwide with a foreclosure rate of one in every 393 housing units with a foreclosure filing. The metro reported foreclosure filings on 795 properties in August, up 36 percent from July 2013 and up 108 percent from August 2012.

Foreclosure activity up from previous month in Columbus, Cincinnati and DaytonThe total number of properties with foreclosure filings in the Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton metro areas all increased from July to August, and all three metro foreclosure rates ranked among the top 30 highest nationwide for the month.

In Dayton, 930 properties received a foreclosure filing in August, up 81 percent from July and up 13 percent from August 2012. The increase in amount of foreclosure starts in the Dayton metro area was especially large with a 228 increase from the previous month.

Foreclosure starts jumped 35 percent from July to August in Columbus, and bank repossessions increased 50 percent during the same time period, helping the city post a foreclosure rate above the national average and ranking No. 27 among all metropolitan statistical areas nationwide with a population of 200,000 or more.

Foreclosure starts decreased in Cincinnati in August, but overall foreclosure activity increased thanks primarily to a jump in scheduled foreclosure auctions, which were up 19 percent from the previous month and up 105 percent from August 2012.

Report methodologyThe RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing entered into the RealtyTrac database during the month — broken out by type of filing. Some foreclosure filings entered into the database during the month may have been recorded in previous months. Data is collected from more than 2,200 counties nationwide, and those counties account for more than 90 percent of the U.S. population. RealtyTrac’s report incorporates documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Default — Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auction — Notice of Trustee’s Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank). The report does not count a property again if it receives the same type of foreclosure filing multiple times within the estimated foreclosure timeframe for the state where the property is located.

Report License

The RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report is the result of a proprietary evaluation of information compiled by RealtyTrac; the report and any of the information in whole or in part can only be quoted, copied, published, re-published, distributed and/or re-distributed or used in any manner if the user specifically references RealtyTrac as the source for said report and/or any of the information set forth within the report.

Data Licensing and Custom Report OrderInvestors, businesses and government institutions can contact RealtyTrac to license bulk foreclosure and neighborhood data or purchase customized reports. For more information contact our Data Licensing Department at 800.462.5193 or datasales@realtytrac.com.

About RealtyTrac Inc.RealtyTrac (www.realtytrac.com) is the leading supplier of U.S. real estate data, with more than 1.5 million active default, foreclosure auction and bank-owned properties, and more than 1 million active for-sale listings on its website, which also provides essential housing information for more than 100 million homes nationwide. This information includes property characteristics, tax assessor records, bankruptcy status and sales history, along with 20 categories of key housing-related facts provided by RealtyTrac’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Homefacts®. RealtyTrac’s foreclosure reports and other housing data are relied on by the Federal Reserve, U.S. Treasury Department, HUD, numerous state housing and banking departments, investment funds as well as millions of real estate professionals and consumers, to help evaluate housing trends and make informed decisions about real estate.

About RealtyTrac

RealtyTrac® is the leading provider of comprehensive housing data and analytics for the real estate and financial services industries, Federal, state and local governments, academic institutions, and the media. Data is aggregated from parcel-level records of more than 125 million U.S. residential and commercial properties and delivered through customizable products including bulk file licensing, APIs and custom reports.